The typical fitness advice often encourages cutting calories and ramping up training intensity. The do more, lose more approach. Apparently it’s cool and most are hook lined and sunk with the approach spending many years in pursuit of the goal.
Pushing too hard on both ends can actually backfire and most of the time it does — hindering your progress toward both performance and aesthetic goals.
The truth is, you might be able to eat more than you think and still lose body fat while preserving lean muscle. In this post, we’re diving into why nutrition truly matters — and the common signs that you might not be eating enough to support your results.
Proper nutrition—quality, and quantity of calories—is important for everyone regardless if you plan to go to the world cup of world cups in fitness or just live a better quality of life.
There’s a rat race in the fitness world and that’s to workout out multiple times per week, improve our body composition (the way we look) whilst still necking back our favourite shot, eating our favourite take away and going to sleep way passed when are body actually wanted to rest.
All of us can really reap the benefits of proper nutrition, regardless of the level of fitness you deem to have or what stage of your fitness journey you’re in.
What you eat plays a massive role in how you feel, perform, and recover. It’s boring and you have probably read it 1000 times over. I have tried to make it more relevant to you rather than just reading out of a textbook for eg.
Here’s why nutrition is especially important if you’re regularly training or moving your body:
1. More Energy to Train and Live
Eating enough ensures you have the energy to power through firstly your day and then your workout. Imagine you’re running on empty or shit food and then you try and workout on that. Give yourself the food you need to enjoy life inside and outside the gym.
2. Better Performance
I will have any bet with any one of you that eating more of the good stuff, fueling properly will make you not only feel better but perform better in physical activity. Whether that’s to be able to run for longer or lift more, whatever it is I am ready to bet. If you’re confident you don’t need to fuel, let’s put money on the table.
3. Faster Recovery
Probably the most underrated. The amount of times I have coached or watched someone underfuel walk into the gym sore as anything wanting to do more is beyond me. They are too busy listening and buying planson the internet rather than someone who has nothing to sell or gains nothing from, who just wants to positively impact them.
Nutrition helps your body repair muscle tissue, replenish energy stores, and reduce soreness — all of which are crucial for bouncing back after tough training days.
4. Improved Body Composition
Yawn. Should be a given, but our lack of understanding in the subject matter is the biggest fault here followed by our lack of patience. Use your brain, one chicken breast won’t make you lose weight and be healthy whilst one burger and chips won’t make you fat. These things take time, you’re in the position you’re in with your fitness journey and a direct result of the repeated choices and decisions you’ve made day to day.
Balancing your intake with your energy needs supports fat loss, muscle gain, and overall body composition — without the extremes.
5. Stronger Immune System
We all get ‘sick’, colds, infections etc (no doubt there’s plenty research on this ) but those who are physically fitter, and mentally fitter don’t get sick as often of those who are not as fit.
Good nutrition helps keep your immune system resilient, so you can stay consistent with your health let alone training without getting sidelined by illness.
6. Healthier Bones
Nutrients like calcium and vitamin D support bone density — especially important for anyone doing high-impact or weight-bearing exercise. We might have learnt this in primary school. To add to this, micro nutrients are just as important as macros (carbs, protein, fats). Eat your fruit and veg!
7. Injury Prevention
Without a doubt a well-fueled body is better equipped to repair itself and stay injury-free, supporting long-term training and progress. This links in with a stronger immune system. It’s not just a physical it’s what goes on between the ears and your mindset towards sickness and injury.
The bottom line? Eating enough gives your body what it needs to function, perform, and recover properly.
So how do you know if you’re not eating enough? Let’s look at the common signs that you might need to fuel more to reach your goals.
Signs You Might Not Be Eating Enough
If you’re training regularly but not seeing the progress you expect — or you’re just not feeling like yourself — under-eating could be the missing piece. Here are some key signs that your body might need more fuel:
1. Constant Fatigue or Low Energy
Feeling sluggish, tired all the time, or like you’re running on empty? It could be that you’re not eating enough to support your activity level. While you can calculate your own macros, many people set them too low because they are obsessed and driven to the word ‘deficit’ but if you’re already in a deficit from not eating enough another deficit isn’t going to make you lose weight. Undereating plays a huge role of the efficiency of our hormones.
2. Dips in Performance
Noticing a drop in strength, endurance, or overall training performance? Inadequate fueling can make you feel like you’re going backward. Keep in mind that other factors like hydration, sleep, stress, routine changes, and your menstrual cycle can also play a role — but nutrition is a major one.
3. Slow or Struggling Recovery
We covered this above, If you’re sore for days, feeling wrecked after workouts, or taking longer to bounce back, it might be due to low intake of carbs and protein — two key players in muscle repair and recovery. Obviously there is a limit lets say of how much you can tolerate before lactic acid builds up but I have no doubt that you’d be less sore with more and quality food.
4. Unintentional Weight Loss
If the scale keeps dropping without you trying — especially if it goes beyond your goals — your calorie intake may not be meeting your body’s needs. This might sounds great if you’re looking to lose weight, but it’s a matter of time before your body lets you down and you encounter deeper health issues. On a separate note which is slightly link, if you are reading this and you are wanting to lose weight, cardio is not your answer. It is an element of your training but the right way. The end result and perception you have in your head of how you wish or will look like will not be fulfilled if cardio is your training method. Lift weights, regardless if you are male or female.
5. More Frequent Injuries
Getting more aches, niggles, or injuries? Undereating can weaken tissue repair and resilience, making you more prone to injury during training.
6. Irregular or Missing Periods
For women, irregular menstrual cycles or missing periods (a condition known as amenorrhea) are not just inconvenient — they’re important warning signs of low energy availability. This happens when your body isn’t getting enough fuel to support both daily functions and physical activity, so it starts to shut down non-essential systems, including reproductive function.
Your menstrual cycle is more than just a monthly occurrence — it’s a key marker of overall health, hormone balance, and energy status. If your period becomes irregular or stops altogether, it can signal that your body is under too much stress, often due to a combination of under-eating, overtraining, or poor recovery.
Ignoring these signs can have long-term consequences, including hormonal imbalances, reduced bone density, impaired fertility, and increased risk of injury. That’s why tracking your cycle is just as important as tracking your workouts — it’s one of the most powerful insights into how well your body is coping with your training and nutrition.
If you notice changes in your cycle, it’s essential to take them seriously. Often, increasing your calorie intake, reducing training volume, improving sleep, and managing stress can help restore balance. And if the issue persists, speaking with a professional can help you get the support you need.
7. Getting Sick More Often
If you find yourself frequently getting colds, feeling run down, or taking longer to recover from illness, it could be a sign that your immune system is under strain — and poor nutrition may be playing a big role.
When you’re not eating enough, your body has to prioritise where to allocate its limited resources. Since your immune system isn’t essential for immediate survival, it often takes a backseat. Over time, this can reduce your ability to fight off infections and viruses, making you more susceptible to getting sick — especially during periods of high training volume or stress.
Key nutrients like protein, zinc, iron, vitamins A, C, D, and E, and omega-3 fatty acids all play crucial roles in supporting immune function. If you’re under-fueling or lacking variety in your diet, you may not be getting enough of these to keep your immune system strong.
Training consistently also increases your body’s demand for recovery and repair. Without proper nutrition to support that recovery, your body stays in a stressed state — which can further weaken your immune response.
In short, if you’re catching every bug going around or just not bouncing back like you used to, it may be time to look at how well you’re fueling. Eating enough — and eating a variety of nutrient-rich foods — helps keep your immune system resilient so you can stay healthy, train consistently, and feel your best.
8. Mood Swings or Irritability
Feeling more irritable, anxious, or emotionally drained than usual? Low energy intake and nutrient deficiencies can impact your mood. Sometimes, simply increasing your calories can make a big difference in how you feel day to day.
9. Obsessive Food Thoughts or Restrictive Eating
Constantly thinking about food, feeling stressed about meals, or slipping into extreme dieting habits can be signs your body is underfed. When you’re not eating enough, your brain amps up food focus as a biological survival response. Increasing your intake — and seeking support if needed — can help get things back on track.
Don’t treat it like a diet. Treat it like a way of eating. You have to eat for the length of time you are in this world, so make sure it’s something that is sustainable. Examples (some extreme) below:
- You can’t eat a biscuit for breakfast and expect to lose weight.
- You can’t expect to eat a biscuit and be able to perform your daily activities.
- You can’t eat a biscuit every day for breakfast and little food throughout the day and expect your period to be normal.
- You can’t eat a biscuit every day for breakfast and little food throughout and expect to have high testosterone levels.
Find an eating system that allows you to eat the same way for the rest of your life without any of the complications we have discussed and remove the word diet from your vocabulary.
This is not a fact but my own opinion… the word diet was made up somewhere probably someone in the fitness industry to sell you something. If your food, didn’t grow out the ground, didn’t eat/ hunt, didn’t fall off a tree etc don’t eat it.
If it is a protein cookie, it is not protein.. it is a cookie.
If it is a protein chocolate bar… it is not protein.. it is a chocolate bar.
and on a separate note.. lentils are not protein 👀
Your body thrives when it’s properly fueled. If any of these signs are sounding familiar, it might be time to reassess your intake and consider if you need more to support your goals — both in and out of the gym.